CARtoon
14-1
Community-Building Forces
Two men sitting at a bar
talking. One says: "...So I
chased him for several miles
riding on his tail and
honking at him. I'm worried
about these deep seated
emotions. What if I go too
far? You don't suppose I
need a shrink, do you?" The
other man answers: "I used
to be like that but now I'm
a practicing traffic
psychologist and I can help
you become one too." Bottom
Caption reads: "SHARING"

Yeah,
I'll let him in. Let him in. There.
Hey, he waves at me. That feels good.
That's okay,
buddy, okay.
Glad to do it for you. Just put your
blinkers on. I had to do the same
thing just a few minutes back. I had
to fight my way in because nobody
would let me. Facilitative driving make things so
much more peaceful, less stressful.
More spiritual. More noble.

Hey,
watch it, man. He's honking at me
because I had to come from the left
into the middle. And he thought that
was too close behind me. It's true it
was too close. I panicked. I couldn't
wait and miss my turn. So he passed me
on the left, honked at me and then
raised his fist at me. Boy, how do you
like that? I don't get that too often,
do I? In fact, it's the first time
that I can remember in many years.

Here's
my favorite hill. I like to push the
engine and race up, up. It's green so
here I go. Look at that cop on the
motorcycle right behind me. Good thing
I saw him. All of a sudden a new form
of behavior is required. Quick what's
the speed limit here? 35 or 45?
Probably 35. I'm going 45. He's right
behind me. Oh, no. No, no, must be 45.
Come on, why aren't there any signs
here! If I go too fast he's gonna nab me.
If I go too slow
he'll be mad at me. Stress, stress. I
can't stand this. Oh, boy, he's
passing me on the right. Guess he's in
a hurry somewhere. Ah, he's turning
right. No time to bother with me.
Ooff.

This
morning there was a cop on a
motorcycle that suddenly showed up
among the cohort and all of a sudden
the cohort turns good instead of bad.
There were about five or six cars in
the pack. We were traveling at 55
m.p.h. in the 45 zone and we were
following each other at one car length
distance. Too close for safety, but
totally normal. So now that the
motorcycle cop is among us, all of a
sudden we slow down and we are keeping
double the normal distance. All the
time the cop was riding with us, there
was peace going on. People weren't
frantically switching. Speed limit was
being respected. It was great. I was
watching a totally new dynamic among
the convoy. All it took was this one
motorcycle cop in the middle of us,
which suggests that the city might
very well think of hiring people who
are entitled to report infractions who
are riding on motorcycles or cars,
whatever.

And
they have a little computer and they
report infractions. And they need to
be clearly marked so people can see
them easily. It would stimulate all of
us to stay within safe driving
practices. We wouldn't do all those
risky things if these inspector cars
were around. All they do is report
infractions they see. Then the car
owners get a citation in the mail. Or
maybe they can keep a computerized
databank on every driver and when a
certain number of these infraction
reports come in, it triggers the
computer to send you a citation.
Before renewing your license, the
computer will print out the yearly
record of your driving. The cost of
your license renewal would then be
proportional to the number of
infractions on your record. This kind
of system would reward those who are
good drivers and make it costlier to
those who insist on remaining bad
drivers. Makes sense. It's a rational
way of managing human behavior. We
desperately need it.

Wow.
The accordion effect has got me in
this left lane. I want to get out of
here, but I can't. It's solid
everywhere, left and right. I'm in the
tunnel actually right now. Fortunately
we're still moving. I hate getting
caught in the tunnel. Makes me feel
claustrophobic. I hate it. Once the
flow stops there is no way out and it
starts smelling real bad and I start
feeling like I can't breathe. Yuk.
Right now I'm still moving at 40 miles
per hour, right in the middle of the
convoy. I see a clearing up ahead. I
think I'll be able to go over to the
right after this pick-up truck gains
some speed,
It seems to be going so slowly. Oh,
no. Meanwhile I forgot to put on the
lights in the tunnel with all this
reporting going on. Maybe that's not
fair. After all, I've forgotten to put
on my lights at other times when I
wasn't self-witnessing.

It so
happens that this cohort of six cars
is made up of me
and five women drivers. That
makes me feel more secure. I trust
feminine style driving more than
masculine driving. Like me for
instance. I'm a masculine driver and I
love it. Diane is a feminine driver
and she loves it. They're totally
different. Of course a woman can drive
in a masculine style if she wants to,
and a man can drive in a feminine
style. Like me. I drive in a feminine
style when Diane is with me. She gets
so frightened when I drive my regular
masculine style. So what's the
difference? I mean exactly. That's
something for traffic psychologists to
discover.

Diane
says I'm a masculine driver when I do
something that alarms her. Like when I
gain speed fast after the light turns
green. Or when I veer quickly in and
out of lanes, generally handling the
car like it's a horse rather than some
solid rectangular object. I love that
feeling. What am I going to do about
it? It's not a good metaphor for me.
I'm too enamored with the picture of
cowboys on quarter horses. It's some
childhood fantasy that delights me and
plagues me. Diane says, "Think of your
car as a big tractor rather than a
horse." So the feminine mode thinks of
the car as a big tractor while the
masculine mode thinks of the car as a
horse or guided missile. Sounds like
the feminine image of a car is big and
solid. The masculine image of a car is
light, maneuverable, and speedy.

O.K.,
now that's gonna
make a big difference in how men and
women drive if, and that's a big if,
men drive mostly in a masculine mode
while women drive mostly in a feminine
mode. If it were up to me I would vote
for all of us learning to drive mostly
in the feminine mode. Still I must
admit that right now I don't know how
women drivers feel and think in
traffic and whether they're different
from men. Take for instance a woman
who's driving in a masculine mode.
This just proves that women can do it
too. It doesn't tell me whether the
women have similar thoughts and
feelings as the men. I know for
instance that when I drive in the
feminine mode, I'm not really driving
like Diane because my thoughts are
different, and the feelings I like or
tolerate are different from her list.
I'm a man who's simulating
a feminine driving mode as if I'm wearing a Diane
Patrick costume of different
drivers.

Yeah.
That feels right. I simulate
a feminine style of driving -- on the
outside at the sensorimotor level. But
inside, at the affective and cognitive
level, it's still good old me. Or bad
of' me. Nah! Just joking. I can hear
Diane saying, "You shouldn't joke
about being bad. It's serious you
know!" And I agree with her. Yes I do.
See, there's a masculine driver. He's
behind an El Camino in the right lane.
I'm coming up in the left lane. So he
just moves into my left lane real fast
without signaling. I had to take off
my foot off the gas and tap my brake
slightly. He could've spared me the
trouble by waiting his turn till after
I passed.

O.K., I
shouldn't be so intolerant and
egocentric. He passes the truck and
moves right back into the right lane.
No signaling. I guess he thinks of it
as a little hop out to the left and a
hop back to the right. The whole thing
takes only 15 or 20 seconds. No harm
done. Everything is back the way it
was. There was no need to signal left,
then right. Too much ritual and
effort. Hey how do I know all this
about what he's thinking? I know
because I'm it. Yeah, I'm it. I do it
too. You do it too. He does and she
does it too. We all do it. That' how I
know.

I come
up on him now. Almost shoulder to
shoulder. Hey, Mister. Excuse me. Get
a life. Don't try to take mine. How
rude. Yeah, how rude. I keep going. I
didn't say that out loud. I didn't
make a face at him. I didn't give him
the stink eye. I didn't ridicule him
in my mind. I'm trying to be good.
Yeah. Trying to be good. I'm a
reformed driver now. Yup. Yessiree.
I'm a traffic psychologist now. I'm on
the good side now. I'm leaving him
behind now. I'm not overdoing it. I'm
not revving my engine. I'm not
bolting. Just easing into it faster
and faster till I don't see him any
more. So that's a masculine driver.
Who me or him?
Hey, I guess the both of us!

Of
course women can drive in the
masculine mode, like the neighbor who
told us she carries a toy gun that has
three noisy settings. One is shooting.
Another is a grenade and the other is
a guided missile. Still, I'm convinced
that traffic psychology will discover
that, as in so many other things, the
feminine mode is safer than the
masculine mode. And so men would have
to learn to drive in the feminine
mode. Imagine, all males driving in
the feminine mode on alternate days.
Ha, ha. If you did it on alternate
years, you could show a definite
effect on accident rates.

And at
the cognitive level we need to
discover how driving mode affects
men's conception of driving. When men
drive in the feminine mode do they
better understand their
responsibilities on the road? Do they
understand themselves better when they
simulate driving in the feminine mode?
If their thinking is different, their
feelings must be different too because
the two always go together, like
Swedenborg says. So that's it: men can
drive in a feminine mode even if they
don't prefer that style. Then, they
can feel differently than now. Yes
that's it. It's perfect. It's gotta work that
way. By compelling ourselves to drive
in a feminine mode we're giving
ourselves a chance to think
differently, and this in turn will
open up a whole new way of feeling in
traffic. The consequences will be
wonderful. We've got do it.

I think
we might be able to show that the
masculine mode of driving acts like a
magnet for hostile and aggressive
feelings. So that driving in the
masculine mode, other so-called
masculine traits are able to assert
themselves in that person for seconds,
minutes, or days, with all sorts of
consequences for the person's
relationships. Yeah, I bet you that's true.
It's like leaven in the bread. It
spreads throughout. So, when I drive
in the masculine mode I literally
attract aggressive emotions and
hostile reactions. I start cursing and
using terrible language that I'm very
much against. I take risks that I
disapprove of. And then it spreads in
my mind. I'm rebellious and
disrespectful. When other people are
in jeopardy because of me, I am
delighted. This evil mode now becomes
my automatic driving self. But I
refuse to accept this mode as a
permanent expression of me. I'm
fighting it and I'm gonna fight it
forever.

At the
inmost level, traffic psychology deals
with the motivations and intentions of
the driver. This is the motorist's
affective world or moral self because
the driver's motives are involved.
This affects the spiritual self
because accepting your anti-social
motives corrupts your spirit, while
fighting them is noble and altruistic.

DIANE:
I'm a feminine driver.

LEON:
(Laughs) What's that?

DIANE:
You terrorized me whenever I drove
in the past.

LEON:
Oh, when you drove, I terrorized
you. Did I? How did I terrorize you?

LEON:
What, I used to talk differently? I
used to yell at you? What did I do?

DIANE:
You do have amnesia about this. I
know. You have no recollection .

LEON:
Which car are we talking about?

DIANE:
Well, it was when you had the Capri.
Sometimes I drove it and sometimes I
drove you in my car. I don't
remember. The pick-up truck was one
of them.

LEON:
And I used to terrorize you. I used
to say to you, "Why are you driving
this way, you fool?"

DIANE:
That's right.

LEON:
Like that? And I used to hit you?

DIANE:
You used to swat me on my leg.

LEON:
While you were driving I would
actually say, "Don't do that."?

DIANE:
Yes. Or, "I don't feel safe with
you."

LEON:
Oh.

DIANE:
Or "You're endangering my life."

LEON:
Oh.

DIANE:
Or "I'm not going to let you drive
the children."

LEON:
Oh.

DIANE:
Which is a total lie because you
wouldn't drive them around so I had
to.

LEON:
That was about your driving on the
highway, right?

DIANE:
No, it was about lots of things. It
was about lots of things that you
disapproved of in my driving.

LEON:
What did I disapprove of, Darling?

DIANE:
I went too fast. I didn't put the
brakes on soon enough. I went in
when I shouldn't have gone in. I was
in the wrong lane. I -- Everything.

LEON:
Oh, my God, I do have amnesia.

DIANE:
Yeah. How convenient.

LEON:
Oh, how awful.

DIANE:
Call that selective amnesia.

LEON:
Selective amnesia.

DIANE:
You men don't remember the episodes
of your life, but the women
remember. And, even if men don't
remember, they set themselves up as
the arbiter of all that's true. So
if they don't remember it, it's not
true -- like thinking, "I wouldn't
forget something as big as that."

LEON:
That was definitely wrong. But I
don't say that now, do I?

DIANE:
No, no, I'm talking about men.

LEON:
Oh, men. Yeah, I used to do that,
true. Like other men who still do.

DIANE:
Yes.

LEON:
Personal growth is part of traffic
psychology, isn't it?

DIANE:
Traffic psychology is about
relationships and interpersonal
transactions with strangers. Driving
is the area of focus but it's the
person's orientation that's always
the issue. You have to choose
between fantasy exchanges with other
drivers or authentic ones that build
community and allow you to grow
personally.

I'm
behind this guy in the left lane as
we're coming down the hill. Another
car is in the right lane. What's going
on here.
They're going about the same speed.
Isn't that just dandy. The two of them
won't let anybody get through. C'mon
people. Someone speed up or slow down.
Please. O.K., it looks like the guy in
the right lane is gonna
speed up a little. I'm moving over to
the right. We're neck and neck. I'm gonna speed up
and then cut in front of him. I need
to get back into the left lane. So he
speeds up. Figures. *#@*#!! So now I'm
gonna get
stuck in the right lane with the slow
moving vehicles. I'm annoyed. But I
shouldn't be. It's just something you
can expect to happen. Maybe he's not
doing it on purpose. Maybe it's just a
coincidence that he sped up at the
same time as me.

O.K.,
I'm letting him go ahead. I'm just
going behind him in the left lane. I'm
keeping my distance from him. Oh,
shoot. Now, this guy's
riding me because I'm on the
left. So now I'm in the same situation
that the other guy was a minute ago.
Isn't that ironic? So now I'm going to
have to speed up more than I want to.
I'm moving over to the right lane and
let him go by. All right, go you
*#*@&*!! Go! Who's stopping you.

I
realize that none of this language I'm
using I really need. These are
vestiges from the past when the
emotions were intense. But now the
emotion isn't there. It's just a
vestigial facade I'm putting on. I
don't really hate this guy. I'm not
really crazy mad. Otherwise how could
I instantly, within milliseconds be
back to calmness? I explode but it's a
fake. Not like before. Then it was
real. I meant it. I elaborated on it.
I embellished it. I delighted in it.
But now it just comes out as a
vestige. So I usually inhibit it. But
sometimes I don't inhibit it.

Ha, ha,
ha. As soon as I change to another
lane, my new lane goes slower. Is this
an illusion? It must be. I wish I knew
for sure so I could be liberated from
this compulsion. Anyway, why don't I
just stay in the lane I'm in. That's how
Diane drives. She doesn't fall for the
illusion that the other lane is always
going faster. Maybe it just gives me
something to do. Still, I think that
the other lane actually is going
faster. What a handicap.

A whole
different area for traffic psychology
is automobile design. Like this car,
Dodge Omni '91. Every time I put my
hand where I grope for the lever that
opens the hood, or when I want to
disengage the hand brake, I encounter
needles behind there. Yeah, sharp
things. Whatever that plastic material
is made of, it's so sharp, it's so
incredibly sharp. Cuts my fingers. One
day we should have self-witnessing
reports from car owners to discover
things like this. How comfortable you
are. Does your back hurt? Like this
seat is not so hot. I sort of sink and
the small of my back is not supported.
I guess that's why they sell cushions.
But I hate them. They don't quite fit.

You
dum-dum. Why won't you let me in? What
do I have to do to get in here, huh?
Unusually heavy traffic today. There's
somebody who wants in. Alright, go
ahead, I'll let you in. Oh, there's
another one who wants in. He's not
waiting for me to make space. Alright, go in,
but that was no warning, man. Oops,
that's a cop in an unmarked car. He's
wearing his uniform. Go ahead. But why
don't you put on your indicator, you
cop?

Hey,
what's this, an accident? That's
what's been holding up the flow.
Somebody spilled gasoline and they
have to hose it down in the other lane
there. Alright.
Now we're picking up speed. That whole
thing was only five minutes. It looked
much worse. There's that cop again,
changing lanes without putting his
indicator on. What's the matter with
him? How fast am I going? 50 miles an
hour. That's okay. Speed limit is 50.
Now, he's going off to the right. He's
not after me. But why doesn't he use
his indicator?

There's
a whole big area also in traffic
psychology having to do with youth,
adolescents, and teenagers driving.
For instance, how do they put on the
brakes? How do they witness themselves
driving? Do they care about such
things as the damaging the car or
reducing its value or saving one or
more repairs? Are they money-conscious
in car maintenance? Well, they
probably aren't because they're still
dependents and the money comes from
their parents. So how does that affect
their
self-witnessing? How does one change
attitude from being supported
financially to paying for your own
car? There's a whole new area there
that's of interest to traffic
psychology.

I'm
waiting for the lights to change.
Still Red... Green. Here I go. I'm in
the left lane picking up speed. Oh,
wow. I'm looking in my mirrors and
this guy behind me is coming up real
fast and since he didn't have to stop
for the lights he's going to overtake
me. But I'm already picking up speed.
The distance between is getting
smaller. Look at that. He's going to
pass me on the right. He couldn't
stand it. I was too slow for him.

So he's
in the right lane. He obviously is
trying to pass me. Ha, ha, but we're
going up hill so he's got trouble
passing. Alright,
I shouldn't get him all riled up.
Obviously he's determined to pass me
for whatever reason. It doesn't
matter. I'm releasing the pedal a
little to I give him a chance to pass.
Not too much, not too much. Let him
feel like he won the race. If I slow
down too suddenly he'll wonder what's
going on, he might be upset, etc. I'm
the one who's got to give in. Why me?
Because I can. Because I trained
myself so it wouldn't be fair to act
like we're equals when he's still in
the grips of the captivated driver
syndrome. It would be like kicking a
guy who's down. Un-sportsmanlike. I
don't want to be that kind of person.

I'm on
the freeway traveling at 50 miles an
hour. I'm in the middle lane and I'm
moving over into the left lane. I see
this car in the left lane coming fast,
fast, fast. My indicator is on. It's
been on for three seconds. I hope he
sees it. Oh, boy, oh, boy. He's still
coming fast, fast, fast. Hey, you
idiot, can't you see I'm already here?
I'm half way into the left lane. Can't
swerve back. O.K. Finally. Wow, he
waited too long to put on his brakes.
It's scary. Anyway, heh, heh, I foiled
him.

Alright, time for
analysis. You called this man an
idiot. Does he really deserve the
negative epithet? I confess to a
feeling of satisfaction when I said,
"you idiot." What about "I foiled him."? There's that
feeling of satisfaction again. It
proves that I'm not behaving like a
reformed driver. I'm having a lapse
here. I confess that I did see him in
time, but decided to muscle in on him
instead of waiting. I figured I can go faster
than he can, so I should be first.
Then I saw him coming on fast and
braking late. Taking the negative bias
point of view, I concluded that he was
opposing my decision just to prove his
superiority. I fell back into an
egocentric orientation, ignoring the
possibility that the other driver
might not have seen me in time, and so
he had to brake hard to avoid hitting
me. Driver's inattention rather than
driver's retaliation. Of course. I
fell for it. Oh, boy, I reverted. Gotta watch it.
Good thing I'm recording today.

I've
got to be more specific in my
self-witnessing practices. Like right
now I don't remember what kind of mood
I was in when I left home. I didn't
check myself out. I just got into the
car and drove off. I remember waving
to Diane who was walking on the
driveway to her car. I would say about
this incident that it has to do with
the kind of spirit that I'm in. I need
to find out what puts me in that
spirit when I start driving.

Don't
go anywhere. Stay where you are. It's
just slowing down momentarily. You can
stand it. It's a beautiful day, look
at the sky. I love to look at those
tall downtown buildings. I love the
one that's so skinny you can hardly
believe it could be an office
building. It's made of mirrors. That's
all you can see, mirrors reflecting
the sky and the other buildings. Look
at that, it's picking up again. The
slowdown only lasted about two
minutes. I wonder what causes these
inexplicable slowdowns. There is
nothing on the surface to explain the
slowdown. There are no obstructions or
accidents or exits. It's one of the
mysteries of traffic.

Yeah,
it's a kind of parental, chastising
spirit that I associate with while
driving. Maybe it comes from the way
we learn to drive. The conditions
under which we are taught invokes the that state
of mind. If you're taught to drive by
a parent or relative, chances are you
get yelled at and harassed in some
way. So these punishing spirits return
to us every time we drive. Amazing,
isn't it? So the solution is to break
the spiritual connection with
punishing states of mind and invoke
tolerant, fair-minded, and respectful
attitudes. I can re-orient this way as
soon as I'm willing to accept a higher
principle than my own impulses. The
punitive attitude cannot continue in
the face of a harmless mentality.

The
psychoanalytic or psychodynamic
approach might say that I have an
innate or instinctive impulse to put
myself ahead of others. Darwinians
call it the survival instinct or
survival of the fittest. But no one
has a good explanation for where this
instinct comes from or how it is
transmitted. The learning theory
approach would say that I learned to
behave in an egocentric and hostile
manner through various role models.
And once you become a driver you
retain that role model. And that role
model can be replaced with a more
adaptive driving through new learning.
Traffic psychology is a method for
self-realization that provides
opportunities for learning new driver
roles.

I'm
waiting at the juncture. Somewhere I
read that this is the busiest
intersection. Look at them. Lines of
cars coming from five directions, all
main arteries. There must be over a
hundred thousand cars crossing this
intersection every morning and
afternoon. It's been one minute, two
minutes, three
minutes. It's going to be another two
minutes. People surround me. In one
direction they all sit like me. Going
in the other direction they all flip
by. It's the poetry of driving in
traffic, the realization of a bond, a
bond between drivers and a greater
bond between drivers within cohorts.
It's a hierarchy like a phrase
structure tree.

And
what's wonderful is that the identity
of these drivers that surround you
keeps changing. So that you have a
multiplicity of close neighbors in a
one half-hour drive. And these
relationships may last a fleeting
second. At traffic lights they can
last a minute. They're
mini-relationships. And because they
are mini and because they are so
frequent and so fast, we ignore the
possibility that we are truly
connected to each other in the human
experience of driving.

Ready
to go. Here we go. Just like a choir
and a football team; we all have to
move together. We all have to keep the
same distance. We all have to watch
out for one another. We're all dangers
to one another. Whoops, there's a man
doing something illegal, coming over
to my lane and crossing the double
white line. Yet, I must accommodate
him. He's my brother.

There's
the bus. What does he want to do, want
to come into my lane? Go ahead. No,
O.K., wait. Let me go by first. Then
you come after me. I see him in my
mirror. Still trying to do it. Two or
three cars behind me, they haven't let
him in. Why is everybody in the right
lane trying to move over? Oh, it's
because of this slow truck and the bus
doesn't want to be behind. Alright, here
we go. Now I can go ahead because this
slowpoke ahead of me finally went to
the right.

Now,
there, see, I'm exposing the
relationship. See, he's gone. I can't
even see him anymore. I had a two or
three second relationship with him. I
called him a slowpoke. I insulted him.
I wouldn't want him to hear me. So
there's a rule to strive for: Only
think pure thoughts, that is, thoughts
that you wouldn't mind the person
hearing when sitting right next to
you. You don't want to have selfish
thoughts do you? At least you don't
want to approve of them and end up
with them! Think thoughts that don't
merely serve ourselves
put also serve others at the same
time. And, therefore, if he were
sitting next to me I wouldn't call him
out loud, "You slowpoke," because that
would be an insult and I don't insult
people to their face because I don't
want to hurt them. So I shouldn't let
myself do it when they can't hear,
because ultimately it hurts both of
us.

Well,
these are self-realizations about what
kind of people we are -- at what level
we have our relationships.
Mini-relationships in traffic are so
short and there are so many of them.
Makes it easier to study them. Like
experiments with fruit flies. They
multiply, you know, several
generations in a day so that you can
test out various things on
generational effects. That's how it
is. The frequency -- every trip is a
generation. And within that trip
there' s a lifetime of revenge in half
an hour with a multiplicity of
personal and intimate
mini-relationships. If they could all
hear each other, it would be very
intimate. So, just because they're
strangers and they can't hear doesn't
mean it's not intimate.

Wow,
this is really exciting. What a
revelation, America! Every day
millions of us are encountering each
other on the road and having
mini-relationships of a few seconds in
which we manage to engage in both
insults and ridicule, as well as in
niceties and dance-like coordination.
Maybe the trend to have car phones
will someday lead to posting phone
numbers on license plates so we can
call and talk to the person in front
of us who just cut us off. Would we
make the contact personal or would we
just respond with anger and the love
of dominion? I wonder. Would we
connect on some personal level and try
to understand each other, and build
appreciation and respect for each
other? Hiding inside our cars with
darkened windows allows for
de-individuation: hiding behind a mask
and behaving anyway we please,
thinking it doesn't matter and that
there are no consequences.

Self-witnessing
builds self-awareness and
self-realization of the fact that
we're a community of drivers affected
by the same forces. When we're in the
grips of negative emotions, we're
being irrational, unhealthy, stressful.
Self-realization brings the insight
that the negative bias is your own,
personally generated syndrome rather
than something external caused by
others. Upholding a negative bias in
traffic is a kind of an insanity,
you know. It's a kind of a temporary
insanity.

Driving
ought to be a positive dynamic. Not
only because it eliminates the
negative dynamic, which is a good
consequence, but also because it
offers positive opportunities for
personal growth. I would expect
traffic psychology growth groups to
spring up in the future. You know,
neighborhood community groups getting
together in people's homes once a week
and discussing their driving problems.
Sharing stories, both ignoble and
noble. Hey, group, I've got a
confession to make. Today I yelled at
my passenger. Or, Well, tonight I want
to report on my fourth week in my
driving personality make-over plan.
That sort of thing. People counseling
each other on their way to becoming
practicing traffic psychologists.
Pretty soon all new licensed drivers
will start out their traffic careers
as newbie traffic psychologists. Then
they'd get recognized as their
accomplishments grew. A green ribbon
when they become polite drivers. A
blue ribbon when they become
facilitative drivers. A black ribbon
when they become Gandhi at the wheel.

Watch
out! That stupid idiot! That old man
has been haunting me since Oakway.
Here he shows up again at the bottom
of the hill, haunting me. He was just
-- I was stopped for the light. It's
full traffic. And as I look in the
rear view mirror, I see him
approaching and he is looking at his
companion talking, talking, talking,
and he's approaching closer and
closer. Of course, he wasn't looking.
So I had to literally scramble out of
his way. Finally he looks and he puts
the brakes on. Can't stand him. He has
to show up behind me again. Just my
luck. Let me get away from here.

Hey,
old lady, get off my back, okay? Just
keep your distance. Nah, she won't.
She just has to drive inches from my
bumper. I can't even see her front
lights in my rear view mirror. Got to
get out of here. She just won't do
anything about it. I hate traffic
today. Why is that? People are just
coming too close. This is the numero
uno problemo for traffic psychology:
maintain space. You're not allowed to
invade somebody's space. Obviously I'm
going to be late. Incredible the
traffic today, incredible. Lord, help
me keep my cool.

I can't
believe this old lady. Now, she's in
back of me again. I can hardly see her
face. She just yawns and acts like
she's going to wake up from sleeping
while her car is moving inexorably
closer to mine. Now she's getting
closer. Stay away, lady! She's sort of
driving very relaxed and nonchalantly.
She worries me. She's got white hair.
She looks like she's about 80 years
old. Oh, I've never seen traffic this
heavy and at this time. It's twice as
heavy as it should be. It's like both
directions are the same. Usually the
other direction is heavy like this.
And I can scrape by here. But not
today.

Good.
Somebody else got in between her and
me now. Is she going to be better?
Neighbors are bound to each other in
gridlock traffic. You're stuck with a
person longer. So the community is
even more important. Start. Stop.
Start. Fast. Slow down. Stop. Start.
Fast. Slow down. Start.

Notice
what happens. As soon as I maintain
the proper following distance, another
car quickly gets sucked into that
space. It's how the accordion effect
starts. Like just now I left three car
lengths in front of the car ahead of
me. Our convoy is in the leftmost lane
of the freeway and we're traveling at
50, so I really should have 5 car
lengths instead of 3. But I can't do
it. They won't cooperate. As soon as I
leave between 2 and 3 car lengths, a
car from the convoy traveling in the
right lane gets sucked into the space
ahead of me. Just like that. Swooshh.
Of course, the driver doesn't have
time for signaling.

So
that's a danger zone. It's sad to say,
but it's come down to this -- if you
leave proper following distance, the
other motorists will create a
whirlwind danger zone around you as
they bolt into the available space.
What can I do? The law of traffic,
we've got to respect the law of
traffic. We've got to accept it. We've
got to, instead, deal with the social
consequences, like being late, rather
than twist the laws of driving, which
is not possible, not safe, irrational
and evil.

I guess
I don't have all the answers now.
What's important about self-witnessing
is that it provides spontaneous and,
therefore, real, authentic thoughts
and rationales. Otherwise none of
these issues or few of these issues
would come up, even if I was doing
experimental research. Oh, boy, isn't
that nice? Speed it up now. I'm going
55 again. So the whole thing lasted
less than five minutes. It seemed much
longer. Gotta
watch these delusions. Be objective
and accurate. Five minutes is not much
longer. It's five minutes. Period.

I
really lost my cool back there with
the old man and old lady who were
following me too close. How can I let
myself use such awful terms? Here I
thought I was a reformed driver. Yeah,
yeah. Sure. A reformed driver who
denigrates senior citizens. How can I
stoop so low? I've got no excuse. I
caught myself. And it's all on record
now. No hiding it. The whole world's gonna know now.
I do feel sorry for aggressing against
those two individuals. I'm the idiot
and the fool. O.K., that's going too
far. Just stop thinking in such
negative terms. We're all in this
together. So they made a mistake. They
don't deserve to be called names and
treated in a denigrating manner. And I
don't deserve to be called an idiot
either. So stop it. I said stop it.

Territoriality
is an issue, isn't it? So here we are,
sticking together as a cohort in the
left lane. Everything is solid in both
directions. And the tendency is close
ranks so you don't allow anybody in.
It's so tempting. I say to myself,
that's orderly. That's just. You stay where you are,
I stay where I am.
See? The people who are already where
they want to be can say that. But is
it just? It's that kind of
territoriality equitable, an equitable
way of sharing public space? I doubt
it.

That
slowpoke is messing everything up for
everybody. So I have to get around
him. How does he dare move in the left
lane so slowly, blocking the entire
cohort? Of course, the people who were
trying to get in here on the side
street are able to merge, and they
don't have to wait as long as they
would ordinarily. So for them it's
okay. But for everyone behind me it's
not okay. So there's always a
competition on the road, isn't there?
We have to live with this competition
in a fair way. We can't let our
natural selves simply dictate. We must
think of this spiritually and morally.

I have
to maintain my distance from this car
in front. But this guy behind me is
following me so close. He doesn't like
me to leave much space ahead of me. He
thinks I'm a threat to the integrity
of the convoy. Maybe. Maybe I'm making
all of this up. Maybe he's just not
paying attention. Maybe he can't see
that well and is
mis-perceiving the distance.
Or maybe he's trying to tell me
something. Don't be mad at me, sir.
After all, I have to drive according
to my own capacities. What if the car
ahead of me stops and I can't stop and
I hit him? I can just hear him mutter
at me, "Oh, what's the matter with
you. Get off the road if you can't
drive like everybody else." Oh how
cruel. That hurts me. No, sir, no,
sir. Please don't think that. I mean,
it's my right, isn't it, just as much
as yours to be here on the road?

Hey
what am I doing anyway.
Making up what he thinks? That's a
kind of daydream fantasy. I wonder if
many people have them. Probably.
Something for traffic psychology to
find out. Surely they're important.
People will be able to discover this
kind of thing in traffic psychology
growth groups. I suppose people will
come up with procedures about how
these self-help groups could operate.
Twelve step programs normally have
credos and procedures, although I
don't know how much of this is
necessary with traffic problems. A
thing that impresses me is that they
all start with the acknowledgment that
we are powerless to change our
addictions by ourselves and therefore
we need to appeal to a power higher
than ourselves. That's a key issue for
driving addicts who are committed to
being bad to others. I was shocked
when someone I was talking to about
driving stories said that people want
to be jerks on the road. They don't
want to give that up. It makes them
feel good.

That's
really shocking to hear. Of course,
it's not really surprising from what I
already know. It's a sign of addiction
that you don't want to change, that
you oppose the idea of change, that
you're willing to pull the wool over
your eyes and pretend that you enjoy
being bad, that you enjoy creating a
little hell in your mind, that it
feels good to retaliate and punish and
denigrate and threaten. But I told him
that this is a delusion, that hell
cannot be enjoyed but only suffered. I
told him how deeply I'm moved with
gratitude when someone does a driving
nicety to me. And how great I feel
when I'm being nice to another driver.
I told him it's like building
community and carrying on good
relationships.

Ooh,
ooh, ooh. I'm braking hard so I won't
hit the car in front of me. I hope the
man behind me is being careful about
me. It's so painful. Stop, stop. Go, stop. Go. And
it's so close. We're all a few inches,
a few feet, from one another. That
truck's lights are on. So my hand goes
to my lights to check if mine are on.
Automatic response. How neighbors in
cohorts affect each other. Oh, my God.
I didn't see him. Oh. That was close,
switching lanes. Now that one wants to
switch into my lane. Wait a little
more, mister. Well, it's too late.
He's got his front end over the line.
You just wouldn't wait. Now you're
holding up all
your lane. Well, you should
have thought of it before. So you
don't hold up the lanes. Your fault!
Your fault! Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah,
nah. Eat your ukulele. Well, go
already. Go. Go. Hurry now.

Oh, I'm
such a whiner. I hear myself whine.
What's the matter with me? Here I go.
I whine again. Was that a whine? Yeah,
that's a whine. Diane says to me,
"When do you do your charity? You can
do it when you drive." That's a good
point. I've got to practice charity
every day and traffic is a good place
to do it. That will raise my low
self-esteem. We're all overly critical
of ourselves and of others. And we're
intolerant. Now, isn't that the
symptom for suffering: low self-esteem
and being defensive? So that's another
angle that people need to explore in
those traffic psychology growth
groups. How to make yourself happier
as a driver.

So now
there's this person in front of me and
he keeps a bigger distance than I
think it should be, like maybe it's -- looks
like 15 car lengths instead of five.
It irritates me. Now, another car went
in-between him and me. Now, this other
car is riding his tail. These are the
things we get into. These are the
things we've got to get ourselves out
of. And driving is a wonderful arena
for self-improvement. Now, the guy
behind him had enough so he went back
into the left lane. And now he's
passing him. Now I'm closing up. I'm
keeping it about five car lengths which
is where I want to stay, doing 45.
He's doing 45 in a 45-mile zone in the
right lane. He's got his rights.

He's
still bothering me because he's not
closing up the convoy distance. Come
on, man. You see? You're putting
pressure on yourself. Stop it. I said
stop it! And there's nowhere to go. I
can see down there. Nowhere to go.
It's all filled up solid. So you see
how intolerant you are? He's driving
at speed limit or just above speed
limit in a right lane and he's
bothering me. That has got to stop.
I'm not just willing to go on like
this. No siree.

Another
tyrannical characteristic of driving
is the of
law of least effort. You don't take
your foot off the gas unless you have
to. You don't brake until the last
moment, in case you can avoid braking
altogether. You don't signal. That's
the law of least effort. And another
one that's closely connected to it is
the law of least interruption. That's
it. The law of least interruption. So
if I'm going at a certain speed and
somebody cuts in, now I feel that I'm
being interrupted in my own progress.
Instead of seeing it as an
accommodation (which is positive), we
see it as an interruption (which is
negative). Even if I'm being nice and
let somebody in, I feel that I'm
interrupting my progress. So the law
of least interruption seems to be
operating in driving and it governs
our feelings, our orientation, our
conclusions.

There's
also a micro-micro level of
self-witnessing, even deeper than
sudden memory,
that goes by too fast to be
recorded verbally with language. It's
more like a thought language through
the eyes. Like switching lanes, what
is he going to do? If I go right,
he'll go left. Or, he's coming left.
These are the general decisions. And
then within these are the ones that
are so fast they can't be described
and yet you can become aware of them
with practice, expertise, and perhaps
training.

Look at
that threatening and scary looking guy
gaining on me. He wants to squeeze by
ahead of me. I'm in the left lane.
There's a car in the right lane just
ahead of me. The gap is about three
car lengths and he wants to squeeze
through there. He's coming on fast in
the right lane. He figures he'll be
able to squeeze through. Now it's my
move. I can't just keep speeding up
and closing the gap ahead of me. He
keeps on coming fast. If I close the
gap he'll have to brake pretty hard to
avoid hitting the car in the right
lane.

I had a
choice that split second moment.
Should I slow down and let him go? I
knew what he was doing. That's what I
should have done. No, I just kept my
speed. His space was cut off. Now I'm
passing the car in the right lane. I
'm avoiding looking in my mirror to
see what happened. I sort of see them
in my mirror but I'm not looking at
their faces. Naturally, they must be
really ticked off. He's coming over to
the left lane, he's behind me, he's passing
the car in the right lane. Hey, look,
he's getting back into the right lane.
Oh, I see, he has to turn right. Well
that's a relief. But I should have let
him in. Yes I should've. Facilitative
driving, remember? You're supposed to
let other motorists do what they want.
Make it easy for them to do what they
want. Remove yourself as a barrier to
what they want to do. Remove your car
from their path. That sort of thing.

I
regret not having let him in. Giving
him that extra chance would've meant
using my brakes. Am I scared to lift
my foot off the gas pedal or what? I
should have done it, especially since
I knew that's what he was gunning for.
So I'm bad. I repent, God. I'll
change. What is this attachment I have
to foiling the wishes of other
drivers? I'm sure it's perverse. It's
got to go. It's the love of ruling
over others. We all have it. We're
born with it. So now we have to work
hard to get rid of it. Traffic
psychology does that for me. It would
do it for anyone who takes it
seriously and honestly. But that's
hard. Oh, boy oh boy, do I know it.
Sometimes I feel that I wanna be bad. I
enjoy being a jerk. I seem to be proud
of it. Oh, boy, that's twisted.

Aha.
She went over to the left, behind me.
She thought I was just a slow poke.
She got impatient with me. So she
decides to switch lanes around the
bend. Now she can see that the whole
convoy is going slow. It wasn't just
me, Lady. Aha! My line is picking up
speed and hers is still slow. Look at
that now she's way behind me. I doubt
her line could catch up with me now.
Imagine, she thought I was holding up
the line. But now she's stuck behind
in the other lane. Na-na-na-na. That
will teach you. Oh, cut it out. She's
probably very stressed by now and you
shouldn't delight in her misfortune.
Yuk, go away. Alright,
alright, everybody cut it out. Quiet
now. Give me back my peace and joy of
driving. Look around,
It's still a gorgeous day. Mmmm, how
pleasant.

Driving
can be a pleasurable, harmless
experience. Traffic can give you hours
of pleasant driving and hundreds of
mini-relations that you can flash back
and remember forever. If you wanted
to. Just think how glorious driving
is. I'm sitting here in
air-conditioned comfort, talking into
the tape recorder, relaxing, driving
among all this traffic, getting to
work, miles and miles away in just a
few minutes. Oh, look what's
happening, a big load. I've got to get
over. Thank you for letting me in
folks. Thank you. Smile. I'm now in
the left lane and this big load with a
cop car behind has been holding up the
right lane. So that's why it's been so
slow. Now I can understand. Ho, ho.
This is the time they pick. What is
it? It's a huge crane.

Okay.
Now we're picking up speed towards
Somers Avenue. Distances
between cars is increasing.
Good. I feel more comfortable this
way. But for about a mile back there
distances were less than one car
length. And if I try to leave more
than half a car distance, bingo,
somebody else gets in there from the
middle lane or the driver behind gets
all upset. How do I know the driver
behind me is getting upset? Of course,
I may be projecting. But how can I
ignore the clues he's giving me. Like
when I came in back there, he tried to
speed up to stop me from getting into
his lane ahead of him. But I forced
myself in anyway and I imagine he had
to apply the brakes more than he
wanted to. So I would call this an
incident. We had an incident. I was
trying to get in and he was trying to
prevent me from getting in. And then
he follows real close for a while. So
what am I supposed to be, happy? I
know he's ticked off at me. So now if
increase following distance slightly,
he's right behind me getting very
close. Naturally I feel pressure as
I'm thinking of his impatience and
hostility.

I'm
interpreting these things. If I
objectively examine them, I would have
to say that I don't know the
probability of their accuracy except
by the argument of reciprocity. I do
it. He does it. We all do it to each
other. We all force each other, coerce
each other, compete
with each other acting as if our moral
feelings have been exiled for the
duration of the trip. Since I'm
familiar with the psychodynamics of
the situation, I feel compelled to
think that I'm interpreting the clues
correctly. The pressure is real, not
imagined. Or is it? Isn't it up to me
to inure myself from such pressure, to
toughen myself up so I don't get
influenced by such pressure tactics?

I don't
know. The spiritual danger in driving
is to become habitually insensitive to
others. Because even if you are a
facilitative driver, still there's a
remnant of indifference to another
driver's plight. Like when we're
looking for a space in the mall
parking lot, driving around the lanes
with a bunch of other cars. Sometimes
I come later than someone but I'm
closer. So I follow the rule according
to the letter. Since I'm closer, I'm gonna take the
space. Do I feel sorry for the other
driver? True, we should follow the
rules, but we must cultivate empathy
and sensitivity. Yes, I should feel
sorry for the other person.

When I
left home Diane sent me off with her
usual reminder: "No cowboys." meaning
I should drive like I drive with her,
instead of by myself, the way I want
to drive, like a cowboy on his horse.
Well, I've just been driving like a
cowboy the past few minutes. This guy
behind in a flatback truck was
following me pretty close And I was
acting like I want to get away from
him. And he acted like he wants to
stick with me. Now, he was
disregarding the rules because he was
crossing the double lines as he moved
over to the right lane exit a little
too soon. Notice that he had to put on
his brakes, of course. On the other
hand, I didn't cross the double lines
and I only had to put on my brakes
once.

A good
exercise for the growth groups is to
explain traffic flow questions. For
example, you're driving in the left
lane and passing the cars in the right
lane. All of a sudden the left lane
begins to slow down and now the right
lane is going faster. Why does this
happen? The explanation is this: if
there is a slow moving vehicle in the
right lane, the cars start moving over
into the left lane. The left lane now
runs out of space as new cars from the
right lane fill it up. It slows down.
Meanwhile the right lane gains more
space as cars are leaving. The cars
that are left can now go faster than
the left lane. Of course, pretty soon
they have to come up against the slow
moving vehicle and they're stuck. If
you try to cross to the left lane at
this point, motorists will try to shut
you out.

The
same principle holds when either lane is blocked
by cones during an accident
or construction job. Orderly merging
would be for the motorists in the
blocked lane to drive all the way to
the first cone, then
let cars alternate between the two
lanes. There is only one merging
point. Unfortunately, drivers are
untrained for this, so they panic and
try to merge at whatever point seems
good to them. This creates multiple
merging points. It slows the free lane
down to a crawl while it frees the
blocked lane for some cars to pass
everyone, then
merge at the end. This is disorderly
merging. It's more dangerous, creates
more incidents, makes
other drivers mad, and you end up with
feelings of embarrassment, guilt, or
unhealthy opportunism.

Here is
another exercise for learning better
cognitive driving skills. Suppose
you're driving in the middle of a
convoy, and it starts moving too fast,
way above the speed limit, and you
don't want to go that fast. You're
thinking of moving over to the right
lane but you notice that it's moving
pretty slow, slower than you want to
go. What should you do? Should you
hold up the rest of the cohort by
keeping your speed down, even if it's
still faster than the legal limit. Or
should you go over to the right lane,
even though it's moving slowly?

ANSWER:
You must not hold up the convoy by
your action in the left lane because:
A) You should not interfere with other
people's freedom. They're not breaking
the law in any way that's different
from usual, and you're not an
authorized deputy entrusted with
making others keep the law. B) By
slowing down, you are creating a
dangerous dynamic in the back because
of the way they respond to your slow
down in the fast lane. People don't
tolerate it. They pass you in an
impaired mental state caused by
intolerance and egotism. They rev
their engines and give you the stink
eye. They act offended. They come up
close behind you, veer into the other
lane, then
veer back into your lane close to your
bumper. They create a whirlwind of
danger, speed and anger around your
car. So don't try to slow them down
but move over, let them pass, then
resume your place.

I'm
King of the Road. No one can catch me.
The closest behind me, those two cars,
they're trying to catch up. But nobody
can, up the hill. I know how to just
-- not to put the brakes on at the
right time. There, I'm arriving, King
of the Castle, King of the Road. It's
me, me, me.
Get out of my way, you pip-squeak.
There, see what you made me do. Now,
it's the yellow light, I have to stop
and you creak you, you #X@!%, I'll tear
you to pieces.

What's
amazing is to think that these
feelings can remain for hours. I
experience them more as caricatures
because I realize they're crazy. I
feel them at the moment. But they're
gone in a flash. I don't take myself
seriously. I let them go. I don't
create a legitimate context for their
continued existence, so they vanish.
They're vestigial feelings. But I
remember when they lasted seconds and
minutes. I took myself seriously.
Very, very unpleasant. Very, very
hellish. You could call these episodes
Hellish Road Speech Acts. They're
inherited tendencies we stamp in by
acceptance that become habits. Very
likely, the inherited impulse to be
hostile is more easily stamped in
because we observe it in others and
model after them.

But we
retain control. Each time we express
rage or hatred and notice it, we have
a fateful choice: either to go along
with it -- reinforcing it further, or
to question and disapprove of it --
weakening its hold on us. I'm doing
47. Look at that guy. He passed me by
like a rush of wind. He cut in front
of me real close. I suppose this is to
express his hatred of the way I was
driving. This is the role type I'm
talking about, the role logic of
domination, irrationality, insanity. We
all have it. We all need to work to
get rid of it. And when we do --
Shangri-La.

Another
interesting feature of traffic
psychology is how you talk to
yourself. Have you listened in lately
on how you talk to yourself? And of
course, how you talk to yourself is
how others have talked to you and how
you've heard others talk. So inner
transcript analysis and
self-witnessing are very important.
The external approach of averaging or
of correlating with external behavior
and physiological measures, cannot
reveal what perhaps is the major
contribution to variance to be
controlled, namely, the psychophysical
dynamic forces. And only the
self-witnessing method can provide
access to that data for empirical
analysis. Empirical analysis is a
bridge between phenomenology and
nomothetic objectivity.

Moral
features: So we were waiting in line
by the light, and I was number five.
This car in the number three position,
when the light turns green, decides to
wait and let this other guy from the
side road go first. And then he goes,
and then I go and then the guy behind
me goes. And that was it. But suppose
the light had changed. Now, this
particular light has a sensor so it
doesn't change as long as cars keep
running over the sensor. But if he had
been even a second too slow -- you
only have three seconds -- then it
would've turned yellow. And then I and the car behind
me would have been stuck. So
should he have done that? That's a
moral issue I think.

On the
other hand, he helped somebody because
he made it for certain that this guy
from the side road was going to get to
the light. Because it's one of those
lights that stays green as long as you
keep going over the bump. Okay. So,
true, he made it more certain for the
guy on the side road to go. But at the
same time he made it less certain for me and the other
behind me. Did he have the
right to take that liberty with my
chances of getting through the light?
Is somebody waiting in line allowed to
let somebody else in? Normally, in a
post office or bank line, people get
mad if you let others go ahead of you
because that makes it longer for them.
Right? There's a moral issue to be
discussed in traffic psychology
groups.

CARtoon
14-33
New Deal For Driver Ed
High school class
receiving diplomas
for completing a Driver Ed
course. The female speaker
in a police major's uniform
at the podium is saying:
"It's not enough to be good
at driving. Now you've got
to be good while driving." A
male police officer standing
next to her is shaking the
hands of a line of students
and handing them diplomas.
All the students who already
have a diploma and are
walking away,
have a saint's halo around
their heads.

I'm
driving and I have my earphones on,
listening to the news I recorded
earlier. Question for traffic
psychology: Is it dangerous to do
ancillary activities in cars --
operating the radio, tape recorders,
CD players, cellular phones,
computers. Getting involved in
something that you're doing other than
the driving can reduce driving safety,
like you might do something a fraction
of a second too late. Yes, I noticed
that in my own case. I constantly have
to watch out for distractions and
counteract errors. In other words,
there's a training phase that's needed
to avoid becoming a safety hazard to
yourself and others.

Drivers
can't assume that they can do
multi-tasking just because they're
good drivers. Remember how many
beginners, can't talk while they're
driving? Or if they talk, as soon as
there's heavy traffic or some incident
occurs, they stop talking. But they
learn. Same with
listening to the radio, with
singing, dictating. At first
it distracts you from your driving
performance so you need to stay alert
until you've re-trained your automatic
driving self.

I
expect traffic psychologists will
discover the special distraction
problems for each type of side
activity. Using the car phone often
requires driving with one hand. Using
a computer creates competitive
stimulus demands on the same channel
you need for driving -- your eyes. So
there must be specific training for
each type of multi-tasking activity
that will be performed while driving.

It has
to do with sensorimotor training. You
should be able to drive equally with
one hand, with both hands, with either
the left hand or the right hand. And
you should be able to change lanes
with one hand. At the same time you
should be able to turn on the
indicator. In other words, all normal
driving functions, you must be able to
do with one hand, including handling
the wheel with one hand, and honking
or signaling.

Now
here's an obstruction. So I have to go
over to the left lane. I have to watch
as I'm talking. You see, there's no
problem. I look
over my shoulder, I switch lanes.
I've been well-trained
for the use of one hand, which is my
left hand, holding the microcasette
tape recorder near my mouth in my
right hand. Over the years I've
learned to be very comfortable and
competent using my left hand for
driving. That leaves the right hand
open for holding a tape recorder or
using a computer.

Now, of
course, the eyes, ha, ha. Now, for
years I've trained myself to move my
eyes rapidly while driving, so my eyes
move in a triangle. From the rearview
mirror front, side, left, right,
rearview mirror front, side -- my eyes
are in constant motion. Once in a
while they rest I'm reading or
watching something.

Okay.
So that level of sensorimotor
self-training needs to occur. Once
you've got that kind of training, then
you can start thinking of doing things
like putting your hand on a keyboard
or writing a note on a pad that's held
securely on the seat, and so on.
People have that practice to some
extent with one hand because they eat
with the one hand, drink, hold the
telephone, and so on.

Oops,
got to be careful here. Thank God for
brake lights. It makes everything
easier so that I can relax and still
drive safely in heavy traffic, you
know, on, off, on, off. Because it
just jumps to the eye and then my foot
is conditioned to the other person's
brakes. It's just automatic,
I don't have to worry about anything.
It doesn't interrupt my relaxation, my
concentration on other things. Just
think all these feet go up and down,
up and down, all pretty much at the
same time. It's like a coordinated
traffic dance.

Of
course now it's much easier because we
have the upper brake lights, three
brake lights instead of two at two,
and at different levels. So that gives
me an extra little warning, an extra
little instant for doing what I have
to do without adrenaline pumping me
all over the place and causing me to
be in a state so that I can't do my
job when I get there. I like drivers
who use their brake lights to warn me
ahead of time instead of the last
second. Putting on the brakes can be
considered as a signal to somebody
else. We're objective when we consider
how our actions as drivers affect
other road users. This is because it's
seeing yourself as others see you. As
a driver you have to be aware of what
that is so that you could make the
right decisions and give the right
signals. So, you have two
responsibilities as a driver. Driving
and giving signals. Driving
appropriately and giving appropriate
signals. And, of course, brake lights
are not the only signal we give. Like
right now the speed at which I
approach and the context is just
before an exit. These signal meaning which
must be interpreted. I can't be an
oblivious driver, driving for myself
alone. We have to drive for others as
well as for ourselves.

There's
a motorcyclist ahead of me and he
looks so vulnerable. No helmet. Just a
T-shirt, flying in the wind, among the
cars here. Look at that. He goes from
left to middle to left. He speeds up.
What about motorcyclists and traffic
psychology? There's a connection that
must be made there, too. Look at that
car, uggh. My pet peeve is car
exhaust, dark fumes. I hate that when
a truck or car does it. It's so bad.
I'd vote for a system where we can
call in and report such offensive cars
on the road. If several independent
callers confirm this car's condition,
the owner gets a citation in the mail.
We need to make it more expensive for
motorists who disregard the health and
safety of others.

Why is
it that my line is going slower than
the other line? I'm in the left lane
and going slower than the right lane.
Once I tried to switch over and I saw
the bus and I switched right back. And
that was a real dangerous maneuver for
the person behind me. But this must be
a strange phenomenon and illusion.
Your line is always going slower than
the next line. And if it's not, you're
wondering about it: All right. Should
I switch? I should have switched. Oh,
it's too late. No, look, you've got a
long way to go. I should switch. Etc.

Oh,
it's just easier, just relax, just go. Now
why am I in this lane? I'm just a
wimp. I'm just a loser. Everybody is
going faster on the right and here I
am on the left going nowhere. Why
don't I switch? Just stay here. Just
don't worry about it. Oh, stop it you
big bully! It's this kind of wrangling
with the self that causes stress,
adrenaline, frustration, aggression,
and other unpleasant feelings.

I used
to have a style of driving where I
always went as fast as I could. After
that, when I began to call myself a
reformed driver, I never broke the
speed limit, no matter what. This went
on for several months. And, of course,
I tried to drive in the right-hand
lane whenever possible so as not to
hold up others and incur their wrath.
After some time I decided to go along
with the flow of traffic. If there's
space to close up with the next
convoy, I do. I speed all the way
until the next convoy stops me. I
maintain proper following distance, if
they'll let me. I tend to switch lanes
less than before and my style is more
moderate. Still, I've got to face the
fact -- I regularly break speed
limits. I often drive as if there are
no speed limits and let the road
condition determine how fast I should
go. Many people think this is alright. I
still have my doubts. I need to learn
more traffic psychology.

My
driving sleeves need washing. Makes me
feel like a pro when I get into the
car, put on my seatbelt and my driving
sleeves. During the yearly check up,
my skin doctor always congratulates me
for protecting myself from the sun.
They're a constant presence now,
holding the wheel, putting on the
sleeves. These are about five years
old. Amazing how long they last. Diane
simply cut the sleeves off of one of
my discarded shirts and sewed an
elastic band in to holds it on my
upper arm. Sometimes parking
attendants look at it when I hand over
the money. I feel good wearing them.

I think
this relates to medical aspects of
traffic psychology: sun shades,
driving sleeves, sun glasses, tinted
windows, back rests, portable toilets,
air conditioning, noise abatement, and
other things. We need to encourage
self-witnessing data from special
groups, like the physically
challenged, people returning from
hospital stays, young children, senior
citizens, and so on. Listen to my
tires squealing. Oh, yeah, tires, I
have to go buy tires this week. Why do
my front tires get used up faster than
my back tires?

My
attribution process is all off wrong.
Now, this man was following me real
close and I said,
he wants to make me reduce the
distance between me and the car ahead
of me. So it was annoying me. Finally
the person ahead of me went to the
right lane. So I speeded up, way
ahead, trying to catch up with the
cohort. But this man didn't' speed up.
He just stayed behind. So, perhaps,
all along that was not what was going
on. I had -- I made a misattribution
here. Well, this happens frequently so
it is an important topic in traffic
psychology. Because attributions about
drivers cannot really be checked, it's
best to adopt a certain policy towards
them like they're always wrong or
they're irrelevant. Instead, follow
the principle of facilitative driving.

EXERCISES

Sit up
straight while you're driving. Your
head could be against the headrest.
Look in your rearview mirror. Look in
your left side mirror. Look in your
right side mirror. Don't move your
head, only your eyes. And now you have
a circle of four places to go to with
your eyes: Alternate between them. Start front, go left. Move
your eyes to the side middle left.
Back to front. Rearview mirror. Back
to front. Right mirror. Back to front.
Left mirror. Back to front. Rearview
mirror. Back to front. Keep this up
for longer and longer periods. It will
train your eyes to obtain visual
information all around the car on a
regular basis, thus avoiding impulsive
disasters, such as suddenly changing
lanes while there's a car in the blind
spot, etc.

Another
feature of this exercise is you keep
your back straight and you hold your
stomach in. See how long you can hold
your stomach in. See how long you can
remember to hold your stomach in. It's
very difficult to remember for more
than a few seconds. Then a minute or
two goes by, then
you remember again. Then ten minutes
go by, then you remember again. It's
very hard to keep it up. Well, it's a
healthy thing to do. It's good for
your posture. It's a healthy way of
driving, of doing something while
you're driving that's also healthy

Read more articles
on Road Rage and Aggressive Driving by Dr. Leon
James

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